Return (Levi x OC)
by Sophie-U.F
Summary: "We were saved by a woman, she had the Scouting Legion cloak and uniform, though I had never seen her before!" Sasha finished, the two boys nodded in agreement. "A woman?" the commander's voice echoed. "Yeah..." Jean mused in a thoughtful manner. "She said her name was Silvia!" Blue, silver, brown; four pairs of eyes widened largely. "S-Silvia..." the call came as a whisper.
1. Dream 1 - Erwin Smith

_"Are those...?" the familiar voice caused my ears to perk up. I glanced at the side, about 5meters away, cadets Silvia Soares and Hanji Zoe stood looking over our 'group'.  
"Yeah, those are the guys that Squad Leader Erwin brought from the Underground!" nodded the taller of the two, excitement clearly washing over her. "Pretty cool, right? I wonder how they'll do in training...!"  
The brunette's eyes shone brightly for a moment, the brunette mouthed an 'oh' in admiration._

 _"Name's Levi." stated bluntly the raven-haired male, his voice calm and cool. The lack of discipline earning him a growl from the commander himself.  
"I'm Isabel Magnolia. Nice to meet'cha!" beamed happily the red-haired girl.  
"Farlan Church!" declared the blond, presenting an upside-down sloppy salute. A muffled snort, soon followed by a whisper could be heard from the back of the formation, most likely from the only two cadets that were idiotic enough to ignore the entire concept of 'silent formation'...  
"Who do you think they'll stay with?" Hanji had mused.  
Before she could receive an answer, the commander announced that the newcomers were to join Flagon's squad...  
Immediately, said squad leader complained, he really wasn't happy at all... But on the background, Hanji's low cheering tone could still be heard:  
"You're so lucky, Silvia! You'll get to befriend them!"_

Blue eyes opened to the world. Slowly, the blond commander of the Survey Corps got up and walked up to the window... it was still night, but light had already began to invade the horizon, soon it would be morning, a morning to leave for a new expedition...  
His mind returned to his dream... He remembered that day as if it was yesterday, that day and all the ones that followed; he recalled particularly well how the two females managed to be obnoxious to the point that they could scare even a titan away. A chuckle reverberated on his chest at the thought...


	2. Dream 2 - Silvia

_At my squad leader's request, I accompanied him and the newbies to the male's quarters...  
Shorty sure could be scary; I noticed how Flagon trembled under the raven head's icy glare. I also wasn't expecting Isabel's 'little' outburst at the mention that males and females had separate dormitories. I began to wonder about the trio's relationship...  
"Silvia!" he called once.  
"Silvia!" he called twice; his, Flagon's, voice echoed inside my head.  
"CADET SOARES!" the yell caused me to jump into a stiff salute and respond:  
"Y-yes, sir!"  
A sigh left my superior's lips.  
"Take Magnolia and help her settle in." he mumbled, waving his hand and disappearing from our sight.  
"Yes, sir!" I conceded; finally abandoning the salute, I turned around to face the girl, a bright smile adorned my face.  
"Isabel, right...?" I wondered, receiving a confused nod as response. "I'm Silvia, I'll be one of your dorm mates! Come then, so we can get you installed!"  
Happily, I skipped the 2meters to the door, suddenly turning around.  
"Come along!" I urged.  
The trio nervously traded glances; I was left puzzled, until the blond spoke up:  
"Can we go too?"  
Three times I blinked, before smiling largely and nodded:  
"Of course you can! You probably want to know where she'll be staying, right?!"  
Levi was quiet and cool, but Farlan and Isabel were very nice chatting companions._

The ground trembled lightly under the gigantic beings, waking up a brunette woman...  
Brown orbs glanced around analysing the hideout; nothing was out of place. Climbing the stairs that lead to the ground floor of the house, she peeked out of a window; the sky was dark, it was still the middle of the night... Tiredly, she dragged herself back to the basement and let herself fall back onto the bed.  
Remembering her dream, brown eyes closed once again to the world...


	3. Dream 3 - Hanji Zoe

_I felt the dorm's door opening, my senses immediately tingled, who else could it have been anyway?  
"SILVIA!" I yelled, glomping the person who had opened the door; I must have miscalculated something, since my action sent us both crashing into the ground, oh well...  
"I was sooo worried, you just vanished!" I cried out, quickly getting up, taking my bestfriend up with me and started to twirl her around in pure glee.  
"Han-Hanji..." her weak mutter sounded. "You're m-making me an-d my sto-mach d-dizz-y..."  
"Oh... Sorry, shorty!" I chuckled, carefully placing her back down and gently patting her head. Then, I noticed the underground trio standing 2meters away and awkwardly staring at us.  
"Guys, this is Hanji Zoe, a cadet like me and yourselves." Silvia presented. "Miss Titan Weirdo, these are the guys from the underground. Isabel will be staying in our dorm!"  
That definitely got to my head... In less than a second, I was shaking the girl's hands, causing her to slightly bounce up and down.  
"It's a pleasure to meet you! Welcome to your new room that you'll share with Silvia and myself; unfortunately all our other colleagues asked to be transferred to other dorms, meaning it'll be just the 3 of us! So~, I hope we can become good friends!" I blurted out in a single breath._

"Ouchie..." a pained groan abandoned the pinkish lips.  
One more night, the same story; it was rare for her not to fall from the bed. Tired, Hanji let out a huge yawn, a small tear prickling at the corner of her right eye.  
Slowly, she put her glasses back on; bright brown eyes fell upon her messy desk... She got up and her eyes shakily ran over all the information they had about those enormous beasts that had separated her from her bestfriend 7 years ago...  
Hanji heavily sat on her desk chair and leaned back. Big pools of brown were fixed on the dark ceiling until sleep closed them again, sending the woman into a restless sleep...


	4. Dream 4 - Levi

_After dinner and occasionally between trainings we hid from everyone to plan our actions... A few days passed in quietude until one night...  
We were waiting for Isabel outside the girls' room. When she got out, we took off towards the storage room, but something felt off... A nearly inaudible shuffle caused me to believe that we were being followed, but I soon dismissed the feeling; there was no way that one of those good-for-nothing pawns would be awake at a time like this...  
Days passed, the feeling of being followed refused to fade, no matter how much I shook it off... The prior night, I had noticed a shadow; excusing myself from my friends, I followed the shadow through the kitchen and the large hallways before losing sight of it in the male wing...  
The next night though, I would finally discover who had been following us and, for that, I had a plan...  
A new night, the same path, the same shuffle... They were speaking about our mission and how it would be realized during the upcoming expedition, our first expedition, 2 months from now. I started to think of starting on my plan to catch the little rat spying on us, but... the gas bottles' shelves came crashing down all of a sudden and, on top of them, laid no other than Silvia Soares; I knew this shitty midget would give us nothing but trouble, I knew ever since I first notice her overly smiley stupid demeanor... We cornered her, we had no choice, she couldn't denounce us or our plans; we made a deal, she'd have to help us on our mission: we would kill that bastard Erwin Smith, we would get the document, and we would finally have our freedom on the surface...!  
I have to admit, as the days passed by, I grew fond of that beacon of happiness; believe it or not, after a week and a half, she actually managed to get one or two smiles from me... She would still spend a lot of time with that weird titan girl, Hanji, but she did mention that they were bestfriends, so I assume it's only natural; even if I can't even begin to understand why one would want to be friends with someone like that...  
After the 1st month, the teasing began... Farlan and Isabel noticed the change in my behavior towards the girl, they also claimed that it was very much different from my behavior towards themselves, no matter how much I tried to deny so... Though I would never admit it, my feelings about Silvia did change...  
Eventually, the time for the expedition came..._

A loud thud coming from the end of the corridor startled the man, causing him to wake up.  
Steel eyes glanced around and at the window; it was still night and far from the sunrise. Realizing what had woken him, he laid back down and grumbled:  
"Shitty glasses... Probably fell off the bed again... I'll scold her later for it."  
Ignoring the tears that kept falling, he tried to sleep... Levi could only hope that no more memories would sneak into his dreams for the night.


	5. Dream 5 - Soares

_"You should go with him, he might need help!" I heard Farlan say.  
"But... I don't want to leave you 2 to fend for yourselves, what if a titan appears...?" I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper.  
"We have each other, but bro is on his own and he might need help!" stated Isabel, shooting me a sweet smile. "You should go!"  
I glanced over at the two of them, they were so confident that I couldn't help but trust their words... Nodding, I urged my horse to run faster and followed on Levi's trail, but...  
I looked around... Where was I...? There were no blood, no bodies, no footprints, no nothing on the area around me... I was lost...  
I tried, for hours I looked around for a sign, but to no avail... The rain stopped and I found myself on unknown grounds... I was lost, for good; or so I believed...  
After a year, I found Wall Maria... My mind did not believe my eyes; I survived, the wall didn't... After a week or so, I found a small isolated house about halfway to Wall Rose, where the fields began to have too many titans for me to advance; that was where I settled in..._

Brown eyes fluttered open, welcoming the sun of the new morning. Getting up, Silvia started to get ready for the day; she had to go hunt today, with luck the titans would be too busy around the walls and abandon the area for a few hours...


	6. Dream 6 - Ackerman

_A field full of blood... A dying soldier... A dark flare... A desperate run... Lost limbs...  
Terror... Fear... Dulled forest green eyes... Blood shot red eyes staring right into him... A body bit in half... A missing friend...  
Blood, bright red fountains of blood... Loss... Blood..._

A horrific shout echoed through the entire headquarters. Hanji quickly scurried into the room...  
"Levi..." she called softly. "Is everything alright?"  
There, on a messy bed, the renowned corporal sat up... His eyes were widened in horror, his bangs covered most of his face as he stared intently at his right hand... He could still see his hand covered in the blood of those that were his bestfriends... He had left them and now they were dead, all of them, dead...  
A terrified gaze fell upon the scientist, whose eyes widened just as much; she knew, she knew what he had seen on that night, she saw the same...  
Before completely waking up, he stated:  
"They're dead..."


	7. The Expedition (Reencounter)

The expedition to reach Shiganshima was yet again a complete failure; they seemed to always be ambushed more or less at the same distance of the wall... And so here they were again, on the forest of the giant trees; though, not everything was well...

"Take it off of me!" a young brunette panicked; not far from the forest's brim a trunk had fallen on top of her leg, preventing her from moving.

"Stop yelling Sasha, we're trying!" a double colour haired boy growled, putting all of his strength to try and move the trunk away from his friend.

"Try harder!" she urged, putting all of her strength to try and help the 2 boys liberating her so the three could leave the site before a titan would arrive...

Luck did not seem to favor the cadets that day... A large figure towered over them... a 12m titan...

Terror filled the hearts of the young soldiers, they wouldn't be able to save Sasha, there were only two options: run and let a friend behind; or the three would die...

"Go...!" the girl said, swallowing down an extremely large lump on her throat.

Two sets of eyes turned to the injured soldier in shock. The boys froze in place; that was the last thing they expected to hear, and the last thing they wanted to hear at all...

"No way!" Jean growled, his fists tightened around the hilts of the blades as he positioned himself between the titan and his companions.

"We're not going to leave you!" Connie insisted, large beads of sweat sliding down his forehead as he gathered all his strength to try one more time to move the trunk.

With an inaudible 'tch', Sasha focused on helping Connie; the duo half-ignored Jean's presence, they trusted that he would be able to protect them and survive...

The titan moved forward, Jean launched his attack, a gigantic hand caught the wires of the 3DMG and the soldier was left dangling over an enormous mouth...

"JEAN!"

Connie launched his hooks and took off the ground, but then... an extremely loud thud as the titan body fell to the ground, headless... just, Jean appeared to have disappeared, no matter where they looked at, the taller boy was nowhere in sight; had he been eaten...? No, that couldn't be, they would've seen it happening...!

The echo of 3 footsteps reached the duo's ears. A couple meters away stood a young woman, much shorter than themselves, she had long brown hair, pale skin and bright brown orbs, she wore a strange tunic that looked to have been made out of a sack of potatoes and a pair of the all so familiar white training pants along with an extremely worn out cloak of no other than the Survey Corps; she was holding a confused Jean, much like one would hold and oversized teddy bear, hugging his chest from behind. Gently, she placed the dizzy soldier down and faced the others.

"Are you alright?" she asked; the cadets traded wary glances. "Apart from your friend's leg, I meant!" she clarified.

"Y-yeah..." Connie muttered, continuing to try and move the trunk.

"You'll get nowhere like that, let me help!" stated the brunette, already working on an improvised level created with the 3DMG wires in a way that the gas storaged in the bottles would pull the trunk up. The trick worked, in a couple of minutes, Sasha had been rescued and the presentations had been made...

"We can't go that way, titans are starting to hoard on the forest's brim!" argued Jean, who was currently carrying the injured female.

"I know..." Silvia muttered. "That's why I don't want you to come with me. You must go to the inner forest to find your superiors and colleagues, while I go to the outer forest to see if anyone else needs help."

"But going alone is suicidal!" Connie yelled.

"And I don't wanna go to the superiors! Corporal Levi will kill me if he sees me like this!" Sasha whined and flailed, nearly causing her teammate to loose balance.

"Cut it out, Commander Erwin and Squad Leaders Hanji and Mike wouldn't let him kill you!" Jean snapped back at the girl.

Brown eyes that had been covered by brown bangs widened in recognition of the spoken names and a lone tear made it's way down a pale cheek; in a swift movement, Silvia threw the green worn out hood over her head and turned her back to the youngsters...

"Your yells are also suicidal... Now do as I told you..." she muttered, suddenly taking off into the way that would lead her to leave the security provided by the trees and bushes.

"What's her problem?" growled the horse-boy.

"I don't know, but we should get going...!" Connie responded, taking off in the opposite direction of the woman.

Out of the teens' sight, she stopped momentarily on a high branch; as much as she tried to focus on the task ahead, she couldn't stop the spoken names from running through her head alongside the shared memories. A smile found its way to her lips; Mike had survived against all odds, had he finally managed to control his sense of smell and the way it affected his balance and precision; Erwin had escaped the grasp of death and made his way to the top, becoming commander; Hanji was most likely still the crazy woman she had always considered her bestfriend, not forgetting her huge curiosity and love for titans; Levi still scared the sh*t out of people, probably still independent and unruly and a clean freak, he got around of killing Erwin and raised to the rank of corporal, becoming his former target's right hand. She could barely contain all the happiness she felt inside. However, her gut held a feeling that refused to be shaken off; it was about Farlan and Isabel, their names hadn't been mentioned, had they died? Surely not, not with Levi at their side... ignoring the bothering sensation, she continued on her way.

"Squad Leader Hanji!"

Acknowledging the call, the woman turned around, coming face-to-face with a trio of beat up cadets. Connie appeared to have been through hell and back, Jean looked about to fall down and collapse, Sasha was on Jean's back with an extremely swollen leg.

"What the f*ck happened, brats?" a growl reached their ears, sending a shiver running down their spines, before the scientist could even utter a sound. Close behind Levi, Erwin and Mike approached.

"W-we were a-am-bushed, s-sir!" Connie stuttered, sloppily saluting his superior.

"Where?" silver eyes narrowed dangerously, surely those kids weren't stupid enough to come and find them while being tracked by a horde.

"Far from here, it was a-a 12m class abn-normal, S-Sasha was trapped un-der a t-tree trunk a-and we couldn't..." the bald boy continued.

"We were saved by a woman, she had the Scouting Legion cloak and uniform, though I had never seen her before!" Sasha finished, the two boys nodded in agreement.

"A woman?" the commander's voice echoed.

"Yeah..." Jean mused in a thoughtful manner. "She said her name was Silvia!"

Blue, silver, brown; four pairs of eyes widened largely.

"S-Silvia..." the call came as a whisper. Absently, Levi stepped closer to the stiff cadets, widened unblinking eyes half-covered by raven bangs stared right at the youngsters.

"Her surname... what was it?" the man's voice was barely above a whisper, it scared everyone in the area.

"Soares, that's what she told us!" Sasha cried out in a 'please-don't-kill-us' tone. At this, the man deemed to be the strongest of all fell down to his knees.

"It can't be..." Hanji muttered, covering her face with her hands as she started to cry.

Tears ran down pale cheeks and a lone tear bloomed into a full out uncontrolled crying.

"Where is she?" Mike asked the cadets, ignoring the overreaction of his friends.

"She said she was going to the forest's entrance to see if anyone else needed rescuing..." Sasha blurted out, clinging tightly to Jean in fear of their superiors (mainly the corporal).

Then, Erwin took the lead; he raised Levi by the collar, looked deeply into his eyes and warned:

"Levi, right now Silvia is going towards the outer forest to try and help the cornered soldiers. Unless you want to lose her again, pull yourself together and come."

"Show off... Who even is that after all?" Reiner sneered, observing as the unknown newcomer swiftly and successfully slashed at all the titans around the area.

"Don't know, I'm not recognising whoever." shrugged Ymir. "Try to ask someone older."

"I will!" he snapped. "Once we get down...!"

A large amount of soldiers abandoned the forest just in time to see, surprised, the last titan around falling headless to the ground. By the last corpse, a short but imponent figure stood, back to the forest.

Breaking the silence, Levi stepped forward and demanded:

"Identify yourself!"

Hands entwined behind her back, she smiled brightly and turned around, hood falling down.

"Hello, Levi!"


	8. The Corporal's Sorrow

"Hello, Levi!" the words echoed endlessly inside his head. Commander and Squad Leaders, dumbfounded, stared silently at the woman while confused cadets whispered theories and questions among each other.

Brown hair bright as ever, though longer, flew around the female figure, pools of brown shone at the sight of familiar faces and expressions.

Pale fingers ran across pale cheekbones, silver orbs were glassed by tears.

"S-Silvia... it really is you... Y-you didn't die...!" a soft sob was heard.

"Hey, don't cry!" she begged out of panic, hugging the slightly taller male. "I promised I would only die when you did, didn't I? Did you honestly think I had broken my promise?" but no response came.

There, the one known as humanity's strongest appeared fragile and no stronger than a child. He, himself, felt confused and defenceless, unaware of what to do, say or even think...

"The corporal's crying? I didn't even know that was possible!" Jean...

"Why do you that? He IS human after all, he was bound to have feelings!" Christa...

"I guess... He never shows them though, so it was unexpected..." Kirstein...

"You're right on that." Lenz...

Minutes had already passed when the raven haired man calmed down, stepping away from the girl a bit.

"At least you're back, not like Farlan and Isabel..." he whispered, clouded pools of silver casted downwards in sorrow.

"What do you mean...?" the answer was evident; still, she hoped her suspicions to be wrong... however...

"They died... They died on the day you disappeared...!"

"..."

For the following two days the exhausted soldiers collected their comrades' bodies under the moon and hid from the beasts when the sun was high.

Two were the corpses gathered by Levi, for, aside the duo, only one other thing filled his mind... Every second he had, he used to vanish from sight and look everywhere for any signs of the brunette; Hanji had joined him in the frantic search, but no luck...

Caught and eaten or escaped and soon to be dead... They had to leave, and so both decided for the less painful option, the first; that way, they would be able to grieve and carry on at the best of their abilities...

For months... Levi didn't train, clean, work... Hanji didn't smile, laugh, experiment, prank... For months the two mourned, until Erwin, Mike, Flagon and some others succeeded in bringing them back to their senses, even if not completely...

"I'm sorry I wasn't there... I'm sorry, Levi..." she muttered, pale features bathed in tears.

"It's alright, I was the one who left you three to fend for yourselves." he hushed, pale fingers collecting the falling tears as his lips gently touched the girl's cool forehead.

Saddened, Silvia let herself be engulfed in the man's embrace.

"We can't linger much longer, we need to return!" the commander's voice sounded; every soldier mounted and the way back began.

'I didn't get to talk to her...' Hanji thought. 'But after Levi's revelation it's probably for the best...'


	9. Return

Some things simply don't change... do they?

7years... 7 years she had lived without needing to hear those things... Useless, waste of taxes, maniacs, nonbelievers, stupid; after all this time, she had forgotten how hated the scouts were...

'What do they know? Most have never even seen a titan and those who have... This group, the Corps, were created to protect them and to help humanity regain what was lost to those beasts...' Silvia thought. 'I have been outside, I had to survive in that world that only the scouts can liberate! What right do these people have to look down on them, on us?'

In her ears, the villagers' voices echoed, sending her mind into a never-ending spiral...

"Pull yourself together!" the sharp tone brought her back to the real world.

Pale eyelids closed and opened for a few times in a row before her pupils could focus on the always-stoic expression carried by the man, his gaze fixed forwards.

"You should be used to this, don't let them get to you." he stated, sparing her a quick glance.

"I'm sorry... it seems I had forgotten about this part..."

"It'll be over in a minute."

Not a minute but not much longer than that, the soldiers left the village and the people's remarks died down with the appearance of the countryside. A few scouts talked peacefully, the sound of the horses' trotting barely echoed at all; the relaxing atmosphere eventually lulled the girl to sleep.

"How is she?" a familiar female voice reached the Corporal's ears; Hanji had finally caught up to them.

"Tired and a little disturbed, otherwise she's fine!" he stated bluntly.

"Ah~ always the serious one!" she whined. "I hope having her back will change that!"

The next minutes were spent in silence as both squad leaders simply enjoyed the calmness of the way back to the headquarters.

Only after 3, maybe 4, hours did they arrive to the old castle. The cadets split up and dispersed, the superiors went each their way as well; Levi, carrying Silvia, was accompanied by Hanji during half of the way.

"Tell me when she wakes up, alright, Shorty? I really want to talk to her!" beamed the brunette, before running off to her room.

"I don't think so, Shitty Glasses." he muttered, starting to go down the other way.


	10. First Morning

Little by little, the rays of light that crossed the window infiltrated the girl's slumber, causing her to wake. Slowly, she sat up; calmly, tired eyes gazed around, taking in her surroundings.

A perfectly arranged and clean room which the morning sun enveloped in a heavenly glow as the light reflected upon the flawless surfaces.

"W-where...?" a confused stutter raised from her throat.

"You're in my room." a familiar strong voice came from nearby.

Looking up, she could see Levi's ever-short figure. He was leaning on the door frame, arms tightly crossed and an impatient expression etched on his features.

"Your room...?" she mused, taking a few minutes to remember the prior day. "Oh, that's right, you're not a cadet anymore!"

"No, but you are!" he mocked, suddenly throwing a package at her. "Shitty Glasses got you a set of new clothes. Now, I would suggest you to hurry up, unless you want to miss breakfast."

No more words were heard as he entered his office, the division adjacent to his room. Despite the lack of words, a low snicker echoed throughout the room, once he closed the door.

"7 years and you still don't like her? How come?" it had been nearly 10 minutes ever since she first asked this. For a reason, he had chosen not to answer and had remained silent ever since; however, soon enough, he had began wondering whether he had made the right choice...

"Why don't you answer me?"

"Levi!"

"Shorty~?"

"Say something!"

"Answer me!"

"Hey, Mr Grumpy?"

"Why won't you talk to me?"

"Stay silent if your dream is to be a bright pink unicorn that uses flower magic!" "..." "HA, I knew it!"

Then, he opened the door that lead to the mess hall and she finally went silent. A relieved sigh abandoned his pale lips, peace at last; unfortunately, it was short lived...


	11. I missed you

Two shouts, coming from opposite sides of the mess hall, startled everyone, even causing some of the soldiers to fall off their seats and others to choke on their food.

"SILVIA!" "HANJI!'"

The scientist suddenly jumped from her seat and over the table before starting to run; the newcomer simply took off running, leaving behind the dumbfounded corporal of the Survey Corps. In a few seconds, right at the center of the room, both women were on their knees, embracing each other and crying out loud apologies.

Confused, the scouts that had joined the Corps in more recent years either stared silently at the odd duo or whispered among each other about the strange show.

Quietly, Levi opted to ignore the whole commotion and swiftly moved towards his seat. Paying no mind to the curious soldiers and the two women, the corporal focused on his food while chatting with the other squad leaders.

1 minute...

2 minutes...

3 minutes...

4 minutes...

5 minutes...

6 minutes...

7 minutes...

8 minutes...

9 minutes...

10 minutes passed by...

"Erwin~!" one, Hanji, chanted.

"What is it?" unknowingly, the commander sighed in exasperation. He had never forgotten how this worked; Hanji, even if maddening, was not so hard to predict, as he had come to find out throughout the years, however... when the 2 were together, that was a different matter, it had made him wonder whether Hanji really was the mad one. From filling Shadis' office with frogs to somehow convincing Mike to smell a a gigantic flower that had the scent of a foul corpse CLOSE. And now, the duo was back, and nothing and no one would be able to discourage the scientist again... How could he even hope to know what to expect...?

"We're taking our breakfasts with us!" the shorter of the two cheered.

Their food vanished from the table in less than a second and the exploding sound of the heavy door closing echoed for a good minute; still, even such sound could not overcome the women's loud tones...

"You'll love my test subjects, they're so energetic!"

"I can't wait! And I have my own notes too!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah, I'll tell you everything!"

"Awesome!"

"No more peace..." Erwin sighed.

"Like we ever had any!" Levi mocked.


	12. Catching up

The sun shone brightly today and it's light reflected on the surface of the water, lighting up the whole clearing centered by the large lake.

Having already eaten on the way, they walked, with slow and soft steps, the two walked around enjoying the view together like they hadn't in a long time, too long in their opinions, while telling each other everything about the years they spent apart from each other...

Silvia told Hanji about Levi's past goal of killing Erwin and the threat that kept her silent about the entire ordeal, she told her how and why she had gotten herself lost during that expedition...

"Oh!" Hanji had commented with a snicker. "So you had a thing for Shorty?"

"Well.. I guess you could say so, it was really just a silly crush back then though...!" the brunette muttered, nervously scratching her cheek.

"Back then?" the scientist mused, clearly more excited at each moment that passed. "So you still have a thing for him?!"

"Hanji, that's beside the point!" the shorter girl defended and aimed to change the subject. "Besides, don't you want to know about the titans?"

"YES!" the brunette jumped, suddenly stopping and coughing, her next words rolling out in a tone full of seriousness. "Of course I do! Now, what were you saying?"

However, one single thought, although not out loud, slipped the mad woman's mind:

'Silvia, my dear, this is not the end! You cannot fool me into forgetting such a precious bit of information! AHAHAHAHAH... Ha? Oh, is this my mind? It echoes~! Echo echo echo echo...! Meh, anyway, what is the plan, Hanji Zoe?'

The cadet proceeded to confess her feelings and reactions when she finally reencountered Wall Maria, she also explained how she had managed to survive (hunting, crafting, hiding,...) and, of course, everything she had collected in her mind about titan behavior.

Hanji told Silvia about Farlan's and Isabel's deaths, how she and Levi had with the brunette's disappearance... the girl felt guilty, fog or not, she had been the one to leave the two ex-tugs behind for themselves as she mindlessly tried to find Levi, she also felt the weight of guilt for all the pain. she only now realized, she had brought to the two she held the closest to her heart; she could but apologize for the two deaths and the two following breakdowns she had caused... after a few minutes, trying to help her bestfriend calm down, the taller woman continued with her experiences and findings, Ilse Langnar's story, how everyone who survived had evolved, Erwin's promotion, Shadis' half- retirement, Levi's promotion and squads across the years, the 104th trainee squad, the titan shifters, Shiganshina and Wall Maria and Trost, the Colossal and Armored and Female titans, Annie Leonhart, Sawney and Bean, Eren Jaeger...

"Wow... it really has been a long time, hasn't it...?" Silvia wondered, her voice barely above a whisper, her brown orbs wavering ever so slightly at the intensity of her emotions.

"Yes, a lot has happened as well..." Hanji stated, her voice calm as it rarely was. "But we're still here; me, Levi, Erwin, Mike, Ness, we're still here, and you are back. It has been a while, but we're still alive and together!" she offered her friend a bright smile.

"You're right!" the shorter girl giggled, only to return to a more serious tone a second later. "But what will I do now...?"

"What do you mean?" the brunette questioned, having found the perfect spot to lie down upon the grass.

"I don't fit in anymore... my squad is gone and I barely know anyone anymore..." the brown head sighed, hugging her knees close to her chest as she sat on the ground near her bestfriend.

Glass twinkled mischievously and Hanji shot up from her laying position. With her oh-so-known grin, she winked and declared:

"Do not worry, beloved princess, your knight has the perfect solution, as always~!"

"Oh?" the shorter woman's interest had obviously been piqued. "What do you have in mind?"

"You'll see...!"


	13. Clearing some questions

Inside the mess hall, the cadets kept silent for a few minutes, gazing between the thrown door and their superiors' surprisingly quiet table... the environment was a heavy one due to both tension and a gigantic amount of questions that lingered in the air...  
"Commander, I have a question!" someone, Jean, broke the silence. "Who is that woman, after all?"  
Curiosity washed over most people in the room and every cadet turned to look at the higher ups.  
"That, cadet Kirstein, is a long story, but I can tell you that that woman is one of the best soldiers this division has ever seen." Erwin stated matter-of-factly. "She was part of the same training squad as Hanji and Mike. Finding each other in a similar level of madness..."  
"After having heard Hanji's passionate woes about titans, they began talking and somehow became the best of friends; most people deemed them utterly crazy and avoided them due to both their pranks and their apparently completely unreasonable and unrealistic minds. Even so, Silvia was the first classified of her training squad and Hanji was the third." Mike proceeded. "It's no surprise that others tossed them even further away when they decided to join the Survey Corps instead of the Military Police... In here, Hanji became part of the science squad and Silvia became part of a squad specialized in killing abnormals."  
Noticing what part of the story had been reached, Levi silently disappeared from the cantine without anyone's notice.  
Ness was now the one to continue:  
"A few years later, Levi and his two best friends joined..."  
"Speaking of which, where's the corporal?" Eren interrupted.  
"He doesn't wish to revive certain memories!" Ness declared. "So, the three joined the Survey Corps. They were incontinent and it took a lot to discipline them, on the other hand, Farlan and Isabel warmed up to their 'guide', Silvia, and Levi didn't take long to follow on their steps."  
At the corporal's last mention, whispers raised from the cadets about Levi's and Silvia's relationship.  
"Unfortunately..." the commander spoke up once again. "On Corporal Levi's first mission outside the walls, Farlan and Isabel died at the hands of an abnormal, and Silvia disappeared and was given as dead, only to recently prove us wrong!"  
"And about her family, her house?" "Which wall is she from?" "Is her family dead?" All these and many other questions raised from the impatient cadets.  
Catching everyone's attention one more time, Erwin made his last declaration of the night:  
"Not much is known about Cadet Soares' past, if you are so keen on finding out about that, then you will have to ask her or Hanji, the only other person who knows. Dismissed!"


End file.
